75-year-old Bible in the Schools program threatened by “kindergartner”

Did you know that Kindergarten children could sue?

In 1939 in West Virginia, during the Great Depression, a group of people came together to begin offering Bible classes in Bluefield High School. Their program was popular, so it spread. Other schools brought the classes into their own programs. The group was careful to follow the Supreme Court’s guidelines. It was funded by donations.

Then, in 1986, the program fell under the Mercer County Board of Education. They took over all responsibilities for the teaching except for the money. That was still left for others to provide. That’s the way things remain: the communities donate the money which supports the program.

It’s popular. In October of 2016, the organization raised $27,000 for the 19 schools it serves. They reach over 4,000 students per year.

THE TIMES, THEY ARE A CHANGING

Now, the program has been threatened. By a kindergarten student, no less, who hasn’t even gone through the program yet. Here are the details:

A kindergartner is battling county officials in federal court over Bible classes in public school.

In a federal lawsuit filed in January, Jane Doe, a pseudonymous plaintiff who is the mother of Mercer County, W.Va., kindergartner Jamie Doe, challenged the county’s “Bible in the Schools” program, saying it was unconstitutional.

In a federal lawsuit filed in January, Jane Doe, a pseudonymous plaintiff who is the mother of Mercer County, W.Va., kindergartner Jamie Doe, challenged the county’s “Bible in the Schools” program, saying it was unconstitutional.

“This program advances and endorses one religion, improperly entangles public schools in religious affairs, and violates the personal consciences of nonreligious and non-Christian parents and students,” said the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

The program doesn’t advertise itself as teaching religion. It teaches the Bible as literature. They emphasize the historical setting in the stories, they study its literary style and structure, and they investigate its relevance to life.

A Supreme Court Justice in 1963 said that such an objective approach to the study of the Bible was valid within the public school environment. The organization has been operating under his guidelines.

But now, the program is being challenged on the grounds that the class is unconstitutional and violates personal consciences.

VIOLATING CONSCIENCES?

If you want to talk about violating personal consciences, how about the consciences of daughters who have to go to the same bathrooms as young men because the young men say they identify as male? Revoking that hideous monstrosity of a law was one of the best things President Trump has done so far.

The point of the battle is over who has legal control over the hearts and minds of the children. The Bible says the parents do. The liberals and Federal government say the Federal government does. The public schools teach a rival religion to Christianity.